Egypt, Qatar resume maritime navigation

 

CAIRO – January 26, 2021: Egypt announced on Monday the resumption of maritime navigation between Cairo and Doha, in light of the mutual obligations that resulted from the Al-Ula Gulf Declaration during the 41st Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Saudi Arabia.

 

The Egyptian Ministry of Transport announced in a statement that the resumption of the maritime movement comes in light of  the commitment of all the Ula Summit signatories to open all sea, land, and air ports.

 

On January 20, 2020, Egypt's Foreign Ministry annonced that Egypt and Qatar have exchanged official memoranda on resuming diplomatic relations.

 

The move has been taken based on the mutual obligations of the Al-Ula declaration that has been signed at the summit in Saudi Arabia.

 

The Al-Ula agreement ended a boycott on Qatar by the Arab quartet, which includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

 

On January 18, the first Egyptian flight took off from Cairo to Qatar following the milestone agreement.

 

In 2017, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain have issued a joint statement designating nine entities and nine people as involved in terrorist activities and linked to the Arab gulf state of Qatar, state-run news agency MENA reported.

In a joint statement, nine charity entities were listed as linked to “terrorism" supported by Qatar, with three based in Yemen and six in Libya.

 

The statement also named nine individuals from different Arab nationalities as allegedly linked with terrorism, including Qatari, Kuwaiti, Yemeni, and Libyan nationals.

 

In the same year, the four Arab states severed diplomatic ties and transport links with Qatar, accusing the oil-rich Gulf state of supporting terrorism and meddling in their internal affairs. Doha has denied the accusations.

 

Shortly after the severing of ties, the four countries released a list that included what it described as several terrorism financiers from businessmen, politicians and royal family members.

 

The list included Youssef El-Qaradawi, the 90-year-old Egyptian-Qatari scholar and spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood organization, which has been designated a terrorist organization by Egypt, UAE and Saudi Arabia.